NATIONAL
1. The Cabinet has approved the highest ever Fair and Remunerative Price of 290 rupees per quintal for Sugarcane. The Minister said this will be immensely beneficial to five lakh workers employed in sugar mills and related ancillary activities.
2. External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar will brief Floor Leaders of Political Parties on the present situation in Afghanistan today (26 Aug) at Parliament House Annexe in New Delhi.
3. The Centre will provide two crore additional Vaccine Doses in the last week of this month to immunize school teachers across the country on a priority basis.
4. PM Modi on 25 Aug chaired the meeting of the 37th edition of PRAGATI, the ICT-based multi-modal platform for pro-active governance and timely implementation, involving Centre and State governments. In the meeting, nine agenda items were taken for review including eight projects and one scheme.
5. Jal Shakti Ministry begins SUJALAM, a 100 days campaign as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations.
6. The Campaign will help in the management of the wastewater. It will boost the momentum of Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin phase -2 activities through community participation and it will increase awareness about ODF-plus activities. The focus area of this campaign is to ensure that all newly emerging Households in the village have access to toilets.
7. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval hosted the inaugural meeting of the IBSA National Security Advisers through video conferencing on 25 Aug.
8. President Ram Nath Kovind will reach Lucknow on a 4-day visit to Uttar Pradesh today (26 Aug). During this visit he will take part in various programs scheduled in Lucknow, Gorakhpur and Ayodhya between August 26 to 29.
9. The President will grace the 9th convocation of the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Lucknow.
On August 27, the President will unveil a statue of Dr. Sampurnanand, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and inaugurate an Auditorium at the Capt Manoj Pandey Sainik School in Lucknow & will also grace the 26th convocation of the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow.
On August 28, the President will lay the foundation stone for the Mahayogi Guru Gorakhnath AYUSH Mahavidyalaya and inaugurate the Mahayogi Gorakhnath Vishwavidyalaya at Gorakhpur & On August 29, 2021, the President will visit Ayodhya by train from Lucknow where he will launch various projects of the Department of Culture and Tourism, Government of Uttar Pradesh. The President will also visit the construction site of Shri Ram Temple and perform Pooja.
10. The Adani Group has announced prices for procuring apple for its CA stores. Compared to last year, the prices announced for premium apple are around 20 per cent less this time – the opening price for the premium apple last year was Rs 88 per kg. This time, it is Rs 72. The apple growers are not happy and some are even threatening to boycott the corporate giant.
11. Andhra Pradesh has sought Krishna river water sharing between it and Telangana at 70:30 ratio for the present water year 2021-22
12. Senior IPS officer Pankaj Singh was on 25 Aug, appointed director-general of the Border Security Force.
13. Haryana school reopening: Primary schools for Classes 4, 5 to begin from Sept 1
As per the guidelines issued last month, only one student is allowed to sit on a desk and sharing of food or stationery items is prohibited.
14. A MiG-21 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed in Rajasthan’s Barmer district on 25 Aug (Wednesday) evening @ 1730 hrs but the pilot ejected safely.
15. Uttar Pradesh to start manufacturing BrahMos missiles soon : In a major development that could turn out to be a trendsetter uplifting the scenario of the state both economically and socially.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the Central Government is boosting the private sector in the Defence.
16. The Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in India, for the first time, will be equipped with Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) marked level-5 bullet resistance jackets by September end, a move by the Central government in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
1. Over 600 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan till now. India evacuated the people on several flights from Kabul, Dushanbe and Doha. The mission to evacuate people from Kabul has been named as ” Operation Devi Shakti “.
2. External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar spoke to UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on 25 Aug. The conversation focused on developments in Afghanistan. Dr Jaishankar also spoke to Saudi MoS for Foreign Affairs Adel Aljubeir and discussed regional and multilateral issues. He welcomed the relaxation of Covid restrictions on
travel.
3. Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat held a meeting with Commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command Admiral John C Aquilino in New Delhi on 25 Aug.
4. India and the Philippines conducted a naval exercise in the South China Sea on August 23, 2021. This exercise was conducted five days after conducting a similar drill with Vietnam in the region. Indian and Vietnamese navies had conducted the naval exercise on 18 August.
5. India cancels visas issued to Afghans outside country, asks them to travel only on e-Visas.
6. Another edition of the Malabar naval exercise comprising the Quad countries — India, the USA, Japan and Australia — kick starts from Thursday, August 26 in Guam, an American island territory in the Western Pacific. This will be the 21st exercise, which started at a bilateral level between India and the USA in 1992.
7. India-Russia defence trade worth $15bn in 3 years: In the last three years, since 2018, the defence trade between India and Russia was $15 billion because of some big ticket defence deals, said Victor N. Kladov, Head of International Cooperation and Regional Policy of Rostec state corporation.
8. Kalashnikov Presents New Guided Missile At Army-2021 Forum :
Kalashnikov Group revealed a new guided missile, S-8L, at the ARMY-2021 International Military-Technical Forum. “The S-8L guided missile with semi-active homing head can be used by various carriers, including all types of helicopters or aircrafts, as well as UAVs.
9. India-China standoff: Indian army deploys Bofors anti-aircraft guns along Sikkim border.
MORE WORLD NEWS
1. The World Health Organization warned that it has enough medical supplies to last it one week, following the blistering Taliban takeover of Afghanistan’s capital Kabul 10 days ago.
2. The Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has ordered the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) to ban internet games like PubG and Freefire. The action follows an instruction by the High Court of Bangladesh to shut down the dangerous and harmful apps and softwares on the internet for three months.
3. World Bank has halted all financial assistance for projects to Afghanistan.
4. Pakistan on 24 Aug received 2.75 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under a Special Drawing Rights (SDR) programme to support low-income countries hit by the coronavirus.
5. The US Food and Drug Administration on 23 Aug fully approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, a move expected to trigger a new wave of vaccine mandates as the Delta variant batters the country.
6. China, Taliban hold their 1st diplomatic dialogue in Kabul
SPORTS
1. Tokyo Paralympic 2020 updates
The Opening ceremony of 16th Paralympic games begins in Tokyo paying homage to the resilience of para atheletes and giving the message of moving forward amid the unrelenting demonstration being caused by COVID-19.
2. Javelin thrower Tek Chand led Indian contingent at opening ceremony of 16th Paralympic games in Tokyo.
3. Indian paddlers Bhavinaben Patel and Sonalben Manubhai Patel began their campaigns with opening round defeats in their respective events at the Tokyo Paralympics.
4. Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on 25 Aug interacted with Indian Athletes and medal winners of the World U20 Athletics Championship.
5. The Minister expressed confidence that the young athletes will excel in the future international competitions like Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games.
6. IND vs ENG 3rd Test: England dictate show as India collapse for 78 on Day 1